Broadway box office slips a bit

Traditional tuners buck the downward trend

Broadway sales softened just a bit in Week 10, with a number of shows on the Main Stem experiencing dips.

It was big-name family offerings that bucked the downward trend, with “Wicked” ($1,720,540), “The Lion King” ($1,643,193) and “Mary Poppins” ($1,193,680) all rising a bit over the already potent tallies each had posted the prior frame. Two rock outings, “American Idiot” ($822,208) and “Rock of Ages” ($571,896), respectively also stepped up a bit.

Tony winner “Memphis” ($896,674), on the other hand, slid by more than $60,000.

But it wasn’t alone: The majority of shows posted declines. “Come Fly Away” ($526,565), sank by almost $50,000 and played at 48% of capacity.

Also subtracting from the pot was the final week played by “Harry Connick Jr.” ($723,455 for five perfs), down significantly from the $1 million-plus the show took in from six perfs the previous frame.

Overall Main Stem sales slipped to $20.1 million for 25 shows on the boards.

The 23 musicals grossed $19,483,061 for 96.8% of the Broadway total, with attendance of 214,037 at 85.8% capacity and average paid admission of $91.03.

The two plays grossed $634,103 for 3.2% of the Broadway total, with attendance of 9,504 at 57.8% capacity and average paid admission of $66.72.